Forgot the main one that will be put into place next week. After years of working retail, I will not willingly go to any Black Friday (and especially no 8PM on Thanksgiving night) sales. You cannot bribe me, cajole me, guilt me, or force me to go. I can’t stand crowds, full parking lots with parking lot vultures, or crazy people who think their "Christmas is ruined" without the latest hyped up media gadget. Added bonus, I may just end up in handcuffs.

And oddly, my very "don't want to get gifts for anyone because that isn't the reason for the season" DH is actually the one who usually fusses about going. Grant you, often he is going because something he wants is on sale. He tricked me into going to Half Price Books last year and I was less than amused when I figured out that he wanted to stop by after we went out for breakfast. We waited outside in a line for 30 minutes because the store wasn't open yet.

But overall I am the narrator from Green Eggs And Ham: (with all apologies to the good Dr Seuss)

I do not like the Black Friday sale, I do not like them, Sam's friend Gale.

I do not like going here and thereI do not like going anywhere

I do not like full parking lotsI do not like screaming totsI do not like crazy linesI do not like all the whines

I do not like the Black Friday sale, I do not like them, Sam's friend Gale.

I do not like to go with a crowdI do not like all that loud

I would not could not travel lateI would not could not go with my mateI would not try go hit it earlyI would not deal with those who are burley

I do not like the Black Friday sale, I do not like them, Sam's friend Gale.

I will not go for sales so fineI will not deal with that grind.

I can not see the need for all that stuffI can not deal with people that roughI can not afford to buyI do not see why I should try

I do not like the Black Friday sale, I do not like them, Sam's friend Gale.

You forgot to make one more rhyme with "surly" - along the lines of "I do not deal with the surly" (as well as the burly).

I don't mind so much the ones who are girly, myself - I guess I didn't work in retail more than two years, though.

Food service, the military, and insurance adjusting - while not retail - you also get to see all the baboons acting up and showing their "true colors" - and I got enough of "that" to know that I don't want to see more.

VorGuy LOVES to get the low prices - but rarely wants to be around the crowds of people enough to go out. He skips some years and picks the ONE best sale to get in line for, if he goes out. Or he may get there, look at the line wrapping around the building at 4 am and come home with sausage biscuits from Burger King, instead.

My mother throws a pity party every single year that I live in a faraway state and they never get to see us for the holidays. My MIL lives closeby, so it seems silly not to spend the holidays with her.

We lost my FIL earlier this year and this will be the first holiday season my MIL will have to spend without him. So when my mom started in on me about the holidays, I decided that was enough. I told her that she gets Thanksgiving and Christmas with my brother, neice, and two nephews and that my MIL has nobody else.

She hasn't complained since.

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"Submission to what people call their 'lot' is simply ignoble. If your lot makes you cry and be wretched, get rid of it and take another." - Elizabeth von Arnim

I have a pretty good spine when it comes to my mom, but we have an interesting one about how she wants us to skip Christmas with her and my dad.

See, my folks have pretty much given up on Christmas. For my family, the big holiday is Thanksgiving, which we always attend. Since we have lived for the last 16 years in another state, it was easy to draw the line....we take Thanksgiving week off, come out to visit, and spend Christmas at home. We always throw a party on Christmas Eve. The few occasions when we have travelled for Christmas, we've regretted it.

In the meantime, my parents have started skipping town on Christmas Day, going to a Bed & Breakfast somewhere, not telling anyone where they went and turning off their cell phones. Yes, I think that's cute.

This year, we're back in the same state, and my mom keeps trying to convince us to go camping* with them on Christmas Day.

We told them that we're thrilled that they're going camping, and that we hope they have fun, and we look forward to seeing them on Thanksgiving, but we will be having Christmas in our new home. My dad is fine with this, but my mom will not let this go. She even went so far as to reserve an extra campsite for us, even though the campground is booked solid and I'm sure someone else would love to have that spot. We have been more than clear that we will not be joining them.

Keep in mind that this isn't a matter of celebrating Christmas at a campground; this is a matter of camping with the express intent of not celebrating Christmas at all. Never mind that we have a daughter, who has already been displaced this year, and is really not keen on a Christmas-free Christmas.

*In case you're wondering, they will be in Death Valley, which is apparently a lovely place to camp in the dead of Winter.

I will not twist myself into a pretzel and let my inlaws or family "double dip" because one person was not available for scheduled holiday festivities. (For example, my brother in law and his family will not be available on Thanksgiving Day. While we will go to my inlaws for DH's family dinner, I will not go back the next day, when BIL and his family are available, for a repeat performance.) One, because it makes everything super-complicated to schedule, leaving us all exhausted and stressed. And two, this would force me to have twice the contact with someone whose actions have led my husband and I have drastically reduce contact with and only see on holidays. For me, "only on holidays" means one visit, not "as many visits as it takes until everybody is present."

It's not that I don't love my parents-in-law, or my parents, I just have to set some limits to maintain my sanity.

So my hill to die on is no one visiting and no rushing helter skelter on Christmas day this year. It may change next year depending on if I'm deployed or sent to another base. That's military life for us. But this year is mine with my family. And I can't wait.

I signed in just so I could say, I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful family Christmas.

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“She was already learning that if you ignore the rules people will, half the time, quietly rewrite them so that they don't apply to you.” ― Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites

So my hill to die on is no one visiting and no rushing helter skelter on Christmas day this year. It may change next year depending on if I'm deployed or sent to another base. That's military life for us. But this year is mine with my family. And I can't wait.

I signed in just so I could say, I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful family Christmas.

I have spent many Christmases and Christmas Eve's with my best friend and her family, going back at least 20 years, but last year was horrible. It's a two hour drive to her place (have driven much further other years as we have both moved around), and I bowed out of Christmas Eve because I wasn't up to it. Christmas was three of us, my friend, her Mom and me. When I got there Christmas day, everything was chaos, so I helped with dinner and we finally sat down to eat at about 9.

After dinner, Mom retired to bed, and my friend got up and started baking cookies. The kitchen is small and there wasn't even room for me to hang out and keep her company. I wanted to sit by the fire, drink some wine and catch up with her, not sit by myself while she played Martha Stewart in the kitchen. I didn't care if I had cookies to take home the next day, I just wanted to spend Christmas with my friend. She seemed determined to bake, so I went to bed. I got up the next morning, shared breakfast and swore that this year, I would stay home and enjoy Christmas with my dogs, rather than rushing around and driving for miles just to be miserable somewhere else. I'm really looking forward to it.

So my hill to die on is no one visiting and no rushing helter skelter on Christmas day this year. It may change next year depending on if I'm deployed or sent to another base. That's military life for us. But this year is mine with my family. And I can't wait.

I signed in just so I could say, I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful family Christmas.

I will not explain my decisions on who is getting visited where for what holiday. This is the first time in a long time I will be home for 2 consecutive holidays, so it has messed up the rotation. I swear, Christmas is almost easier to deal with when I'm deployed. No one argues about whose house I am going to, and I get to take silly pictures with large thing that go "BOOM"!

ETA - I do love and miss my family, I swear. Just not a fan of the squabbling. I should just tell them to fly out to me next year

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My inner (r-word) is having a field day with this one.-Love is Evol: Christopher Titus-

Count me as another who won't do Black Friday. I don't like shopping that much as it is, rapid hordes of bargain-crazed shoppers make me want to cocoon myself until February.

My other hills are fairly minor--I refuse to discuss why *I* am not yet marrrrrried (nothing like having a younger sibling marry to bring out the 'concerned' relatives, but that's a whole 'nother post anyways--and on top of that our mother got engaged two weeks ago!) or having a baaaaaaby, or why haven't we bought a hooooouse? Period, it's not up for discussion. Instant bean-dip. I'd rather ask how *random relative* is doing with that nasty ingrown toenail.